JOHNNY DARTER 



HELEN A. LOOMIS 



*sfi 



Johnnp Darter 



Boleosoma nigrum 



The admirers of Johnny Darter do 

 not present him as a rival of small trop- 

 ical aristocrats, but just a fascinating lit- 

 tle plebian migrating from the mountain 

 streams. He has neither remarkable 

 beauty of form nor color, but he cer- 

 tainly has "pep." In fact, he is a splen- 

 did illustration of the keenness and 

 adaptability with which Nature equips 

 the winners in her own aquaria, where 

 mouths are many and meat is scarce. 



Seining along the shallows of our 

 colder lakes or better still, swift brooks 

 and creeks, will procure a quantity of 

 small fishes, consisting of various min- 

 nows ; babies of our larger food fish, 

 such as perch, bass, suckers, etc. ; and 

 almost without fail some of the darters. 

 The latter may be distinguished from 

 their small associates by placing the 

 catch in a shallow pan of water, with a 

 sand layer and observing their activities. 

 They will immediately sink to the bot- 

 tom and, if disturbed, instead of swim- 



ming suspended in the water, will dash 

 across the sand running on the elongate 

 pectoral fins — hence the name darter. 

 Johnny may now be personally identi- 

 fied as follows : Length, two and one- 

 half inches ; color, pale straw, with a 

 tinge of olive; markings, the back spot- 

 ted with dark to resemble the sand, and 

 very distinct M, N or W marks along 

 the side over the lateral line; the two 

 dorsals and caudal fin spotted with 

 brown, forming transverse bands ; the 

 eye very large and prominent, with a 

 golden iris. 



At home in an aquarium, provided 

 with a plentiful scattering of large peb- 

 bles, as well as the sand, he will enter- 

 tain the observer with some of the fol- 

 lowing capers. He may go for a ride, 

 suspended on the under side of a float- 

 ing board if provided, or again he will 

 rest with his body supported by the 

 stones and his head turned at an angle, 

 as if posing. This feat and the ability 



